The White House has had a comprehensive course of action for employees who contract the coronavirus since March, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
On Sunday evening, reporters from the New York Times and New York Magazine shared an internal email to White House staff members outlining steps on what to do if they are experiencing coronavirus-related symptoms. People who work at the White House told the Washington Examiner they were surprised that members of the press were sharing the email because the instructions given were nearly identical to periodic emails they have been receiving since March.
The Oct. 4 email told White House employees to “please stay at home and do not come to work until you are free of any symptoms.” Those who believe they are showing symptoms of COVID-19 “should not go to the White House Medical Unit Clinic” for a test but should contact their supervisor if they’d wish to work from home.
Those who have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days include President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, counsel to the president Hope Hicks, White House aide Nicholas Luna, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and Republican Sens. Mike Lee, Thom Tillis, and Ron Johnson. Trump was flown on Marine One to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday and is set to be released Monday evening.
An email from March 10 asked employees to “visit their Primary Care provider if they are sick” and encouraged managers to “authorize sick leave or telework, as appropriate.”
“If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, cough, shortness of breath, and/or body aches, please stay home,” read an email from March 12. “You should begin self-isolation for 14 days from the time you had contact with the [suspected infected] person and notify the White House Management Office.”
New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi claimed that the Oct. 4 email “isn’t identical to the other emails (it specifies not getting tested at the medical unit, among other differences).” But White House staff has been instructed not to go to the White House Medical Unit clinic “for any COVID-19 testing inquiries” for weeks, according to one Sept. 13 email.
When the Washington Examiner pointed out to a New York Times reporter that the instructions in the Oct. 4 email were largely a review of what has been sent out to White House staff for months, the journalist, Maggie Haberman, responded that “it’s a) not the same email, it includes the possibility of teleworking for the first time but b) is the first campus-wide email to go out at all since POTUS got sick.” Nuzzi retweeted Haberman’s claim.
But emails obtained from the Washington Examiner from April and May show that White House staff members have been instructed to avoid in-person meetings and have been encouraged to telework for months.
“Telework when possible,” one April 4 email to White House staff read. “Please continue to telework when possible and stay home. Supervisors are encouraged to be flexible.”
“The [Executive Office of the President] is continuing to practice maximum telework and social distancing,” read another April 28 email to all staff. “Supervisors should encourage their employees to telework whenever possible.”
That April 28 email described the various “teleconferencing tools” at the White House to assist with “employee telework needs,” including iPhone and desk-phone teleconferencing, Skype for Business, and the Conference Bridge scheduler, although the use of Zoom was prohibited.
Another email sent on May 11 reiterated many of those instructions and required “everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or facial covering.”
